In the cloud business, we transport data from the place where information is created all the way through to the time a business decision is made based on the way the intelligence is gathered, parsed and presented. Our adventure lies in the cloud.

This week’s photo challenge tells us: “Whether your own or someone else’s, literal or figurative, take us on a photographic adventure.”

This adventure is one of school of children headed home after a full day of classes at the Masjid Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Their futures full of possibilities to acquire, create and share knowledge, a cause we believe in. We included our perspective in the form of poetry that portrays the photo:

I am sure all of us love nature. No one wants to see the wonders of beauty get replaced by scenes like the ones in these pictures. Some are worried about our food and water supplies while others engage in dogmatic discussions and denials.

How often do we take into consideration the impact of our choices and actions? What role does each of us play in direct and indirect habitat destruction? No, I am not talking about spotted owls here. I am talking about human habitat and human food web and supply (although rigor must consider system as a whole). I am talking about dust bowls. I am talking about increased frequency, duration and intensity of various events. We will notice these events and experience their effects no matter what perception scale we apply.

When I saw these trees my heart was filled with sorrow. I started by blaming myself: I am sorry I use more than my share of fossil fuels. I am sorry I use more than my share of water. I am sorry I use more than my share of energy. I am sorry I use more than my share of water.I am sorry I use more than my share of shelter. I am sorry I use more cotton. I am sorry …

I am guilty like the rest of us.

It is ok for you to say you don’t care about trees. It is ok for you to question science but please use facts. Lets have a discussion.

Please share with the world:

Why shouldn’t I be sorry?

Why shouldn’t you be sorry?

And above all what can each one of us do?

Please share what you see happening around your ecosystem. What can technology do to decelerate the rate of change?

I want to share this article about how many people see what they want to see. This has a huge effect on how we do our work, make decisions or even live our lives. Visit the Nation Public Radio site link below for more information.

3. Although traditions and some protocols were observed, they were simple and not what you will see in “empires!”. Simple and inclusive.

4. I was not treated like a subject 🙂 ****

What made this interesting was how the civil rights movement paid it forward for me, so I can write this on a non segregated bus as I am going home after work. Dr Marin Luther King’s words are moving through my body and my life as the bus is moving me closer to my suburb. How have I been taking things for granted. To him and many who paved the road for me I say thanks!

We still have a long way to go. Hate still exists in our streets and even in our places of higher learning … But with each one of us teaching and practicing tolerance this country will move forwards total inclusion one day …

****: (For the politically literate and emancipated: if the year was 1984, I just signed my own death sentence with these 7 words again …). I am no body’s subject! ***

We are seeing huge temperature oscillations. The spread between minimum and maximum temperatures in the span of a few hours may exceed 50 degrees F in a single day. We are seeing segments of water and sewer pipes bursting in some cities. What is happening to other infrastructure elements? Are the roads, the pavements and parking lots being impacted? “You betcha” as the locals would say. How about the electrical infrastructure? Is the life expectation of our housing shrinking? Will the warranties by builders for foundations shrink as well? Do the gas pipes to houses have enough built-in tolerance to sustain major ground shifting dynamics?

I am no expert in these matters but what I learned from my study of nature, drought, soil physics and mechanics tells me that we may be facing significant cost increases(in the future) due to maintenance and to new designs (with higher new tolerances). Such increases will also impact the cost of living and of doing business, in addition to reliability of various amenities and system components our civilization relies and depends on.

The intensity, the duration, the frequency and the stage of various events matter on many scales. We have focused on the flora, the fauna, glaciers, etc where the rate of change has been alarming and well documented (even if small disruptions affect populations less represented and less distributed …).

I would love to hear if the variations we are seeing and their amplitudes are sufficiently large to have a significant impact on the infrastructure, its reliability and especially on disaster avoidance, tolerance and escape …